Fred’s funds raise fear of flop … or do they?

Fred Thompson plans to announce Tuesday that his committee to test the waters for a Republican presidential campaign raised slightly more than $3 million in June, substantially less than some backers had hoped, according to Republican sources.

Thompson plans to make the disclosure in a filing with the Internal Revenue Service, as he continues to operate his prospective campaign as a political organization that does not require disclosure to the Federal Election Commission.

In my opinion, I doubt people will be uber willing to open their checkbooks until the man actually announces. I know for a fact that I personally would refuse to send money to someone who wasn’t even an official candidate.

â€œThere has been some criticism that the testing-the-waters committee is not such a testing-the-waters committee and that heâ€™s running some sort of campaign,â€ said a Thompson adviser.

â€œHeâ€™s raising enough to test the waters, not run a full-fledged presidential campaign. Heâ€™s not a candidate.â€

I just don’t see $3 million as such a big deal since people are probably not yet wiling to contribute to a non-campaign.